The Triple Release
Album release shows are an excellent way to bring out everyone into one place to pick up and celebrate new music. They tend to usually be for a single release, and occasionally for a dual release. However, in this case we had three bands releasing three new albums of their own. This would be a first for my concert going, as Playboy Manbaby, T.O.S.O., and Not Confined had a brand new album this night. On top of those, we had Exxxtra Crispy playing to start the entire thing off.
Exxxtra Crispy played only the first of multiple energized sets of the night. If you haven’t caught them yet, they are a high energy punk rock, ska and hip hop hybrid of a band. The lyrics of their music is raw and blunt talking about sex, drugs, and anything else that comes to their creative minds.
If Austin, Bryan, Marcus or any of this band isn’t moving around during a song it is a rare time. Their music creates an infectious energy that the band further perpetuates until the crowd is right there with them. This excitement came through to the audience better than most opening bands could do. That is the magic of one of my favorite local bands to explode onto the music scene last year, Exxxtra Crispy.
What followed that up is another young punk band making waves, Not Confined. These gals and guys came up through the School of Rock program. Their lead vocalist, Bailey, I have met frequently at punk shows and in the mosh pits with her father for a few years now. There is a strong punk influence here and it shows in their music.
Her band mates include Torri and Michael, who share in that excitement and smiles up on the stage. The set the four members of this band played included classic punk songs mixed in with the new songs they just put out on the “Television Man EP.” Not Confined is a band that keeps getting better and people should keep an eye on going forward.
After that was a band I wish I had found sooner than last year, but I am always going to be trying to watch, T.O.S.O. First, I have no idea what the acronym actually stands for and it looks like the mystery is perpetuated on purpose by the band. That mystery goes perfect with the theatrical performance they put on in every set. Like that of Broloaf, they write stories that they tell through their shows between their songs.
This night it was tale of a wizard and a wizard in training along with traveling companions. There is a cursed artifact that keeps spreading this evil spirit to each member until finally extinguished. That process is to channel the spirit back into the artifact, a piñata, which is then tossed out to the crowd to destroy. The set is as entertaining as the alternative and punk types of songs T.O.S.O. produces. I not only recommend picking up the new album, “The Waste,” but that you squeeze a T.O.S.O show into your future.
Last up is a band I’m on record saying is my favorite local band currently, the Playboy Manbaby. Like the two bands prior, they were celebrating the release of their new album, “Lobotomobile.” Riding on the tails of their fantastic “Don’t Let It Be” they deliver another superb album mixed with political and societal meanings in a style they could only produce. The set opened with a projected video of Greg Stanton, current mayor of Phoenix, calling on Playboy Manbaby to help with a crisis. Heeding the call, we saw the band jump on stage in berets and sunglasses. Animations continued to be projected behind them as they played each song.
The crowd ate this up. They were all bouncing around and singing along as close as they could to Playboy Manbaby. They gave Bailey, of Not Confined, a fantastic birthday moment. She got to join them to play guitar on one of the songs this night. For their encore, Robbie would reappear in a suit and white gloves. The night closed on yet another exciting Playboy Manbaby set. It was one hell of a line up and entire show to put out three new albums.
